Air conditioner or conditioning units are conventionally utilized to adjust the temperature indoors, e.g., within structures such as dwellings and office buildings. Such units commonly include a closed refrigeration loop to heat or cool the indoor air. Typically, the indoor air is recirculated while being heated or cooled. A variety of sizes and configurations are available for such air conditioner units. For example, some units may have one portion installed indoors that is connected, by e.g., tubing carrying the refrigerant, to another portion located outdoors. These types of units are typically used for conditioning air in larger spaces.
Other types of air conditioning units are typically used to condition air within relatively smaller indoor spaces. For example, such air conditioner units may include packaged terminal units including packaged terminal air conditioner units (PTAC) and packaged terminal heat pumps (PTHP), single package vertical units (SPVU) including single package vertical air conditioners (SPVAC) and single package vertical heat pumps (SPVHP), built ins, and window units. These units may include both an indoor portion and an outdoor portion separated by a bulkhead and may be installed in windows or positioned within an opening of an exterior wall of a building.
Further, such air conditioning units typically include an indoor fan and an outdoor fan. An indoor fan motor may drive both the indoor fan and the outdoor fan or the indoor fan motor may drive the indoor fan and a separate outdoor fan motor may drive the outdoor fan. The indoor fan motor is usually mounted within the outdoor portion or compartment of the unit, e.g., so it doesn't expel heat into the cooled airstream within the indoor portion. To keep the indoor fan motor cool, in some units, a secondary fan blade is mounted to the indoor motor to flow a cooling airflow over the motor. In other units, the outdoor fan motor is run constantly to keep the indoor fan motor from overheating. As such, either additional fan components are required to be mounted on the indoor motor, thereby increasing the complexity of the indoor motor and the cost of the unit, or energy consumption is increased in order to run the outdoor fan motor to drive the outdoor fan for cooling of the indoor motor, thus increasing the cost of operating the unit.
Accordingly, improved air conditioner units and associated methods that address one or more of the challenges noted above would be useful.